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Tonight, the NBC Nightly devoted three minutes to the Gaza crisis, and three and a half minutes to the shocking news that, three years ago, Prince Harry addressed his Asian army pal by the indelicate title of “Little Paki”.

What followed was a discussion on whether anyone capable of such gross behavior could ever be a suitable candidate for the throne of Great Britain.

My response is simple: mind your own business, America. In future, stick to criticizing your spoiled and immature Hollywood stars for their inane, and often insulting, behavior, and let the Brits concern themselves with their own Royalty issues.

Hypocrisy has become invisible to the American media. Use of the word, “Nigger”, even “Negro”, is considered vilely insulting, yet racism is alive and well and living in Oakland, California,^[1] Bellaire, Texas,^[2] and all points north, south, east, and west.

The term “Paki” is used frequently in Britain as a term of endearment between close friends, when one of them is of Pakistani origin. It’s no different from calling an Englishman a “Brit”, or an American, a “Yank”.

What the media has done for us over the years, is to highlight certain words and then demean them to a term of insult. Before long, those with an agenda jump on the bandwagon, and fuel the flames. One elderly man of Pakistani origin was interviewed on NBC tonight and readily acknowledged that “Paki” was a terrible term of abuse, and an insult to all Pakistanis. No-one asked him to define, why?

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare’s Juliet of Romeo, on learning of his family name, hated and despised by her own. In so doing she laid bare the hypocrisy surrounding the use of labels to spread hatred and fear. Labels that, of themselves, are nothing more than innocent words.

The word is not important. It’s the human sentiment behind the word that expresses everything. “Nigger” or “Paki” can be a term of great love and endearment between friends who know and respect each other. When Prince William used the latter term of his soldier-pal, it was obviously in this context.

Of course, such words can equally be used to express hate and disdain. In which case, it’s not the fault of the word, but of the human expression behind it.

In many parts of the world today, and nowhere more so than the United States, such words are demonized to the extent their lack of use is taken as a measure of success in overcoming racism and prejudice.

Sweep the words under the carpet, and the accompanying filth will go with it.

Unfortunately, one only has to read the headlines each day to realize the falsehood of such an assumption.

NBC News might serve its viewers better if it dwelt less on the endearment of a foreign prince for his friend, and instead presented the facts of racial abuse in a forthright manner; for example, one that focused more on ensuring public opinion demanded US police officers pay dearly whenever they use their uniform to vent racial prejudice, as in the cases cited below.

^{[1] “Oakland shooting fuels anger over police brutality” AP, January 10th 2009}

^{[2] “Bellaire police shooting unearths unease” Houston Chronicle, January 11th 2009}

Filed under: Naughty names

News today that John McCain’s greatest ally in the fight to conquer Obama Democracy, Joe the Plumber, has vacated his position as an unskilled bathroom drain unblocker, to become an ace reporter for Pyjama TV. Joe is headed to the Middle East on assignment, where he intends to interview Israeli soldiers and uncover the shocking truth behind the Gaza war. And all in the guise of media entertainment.

When Jon Stewart and his Daily Show took a prolonged holiday over the Christmas/New year period, the Adams family searched for alternative entertainment. This involved perusing other late night talk show hosts in the hope of finding someone, if not as funny as Jon Stewart, then at least remotely entertaining.

When you consider that the Adams household Tivos BBC News, NBC Nightly News, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report (the latter mainly for Mrs Adams) and this is our sole viewing of the day, the loss of Stewart and Colbert for nearly three weeks over the holidays constituted a major drop in the entertainment quota provided by our cable provider. At a figure in excess of one hundred dollars per month for cable access, it was imperative to remedy the situation by seeking alternatives.

Research, in the form of recorded programs from Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, and Jay Leno, produced decisive results. Letterman was decidedly unfunny, so relied entirely on the quality of guest to determine whether the show might be watchable, or not. O’Brian clapped his hands far too loudly every few seconds, darted backwards and forwards in front of the camera in a manner guaranteed to induce motion sickness, or epilepsy in those prone, and only managed to raise a taped titter with the pre-recorded studio audience, leaving the live viewers chez Adams shaking their heads in bewilderment.

Jay Leno, on the other hand, is every inch a professional entertainer. Undoubtedly, one of the funniest stand-up comics America has on offer today. Yes, he may be a trifle ‘dated’ for some, in which case I say – fine, watch O’Brien and suffer the motion sickness. Leno is of the old school, a guru for the younger, up-and-coming comedians of the day. His rapport with the band is exquisite, his ability to wring the best from his guests, profound.

No doubt, it’s these very qualities that induced NBC to consider sacking Leno and substituting his program slot for Conan O’Brien’s second-rate show.

Well, it’s par for the course, isn’t it? No doubt O’Brien is cheaper than Leno.

Thankfully, Leno has negotiated an earlier time slot, but it bodes ill for the permanence of his exposure on NBC. But, then, NBC was always second-rate, so maybe Leno could do better elsewhere, on a network that recognizes his own singular brand of genius.

On the other hand, this is America, where the dollar is way more important then genius.

One thing’s for sure: the Tivo line-up chez Adams is now BBC News, NBC Nightly News, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and the Late Show with Jay Leno.

It will stay that way until NBC decide, in their infinite stupidity, to finally replace Leno with Joe the Plumber.

Filed under: TV’s best

In the midst of all the bloodshed and suffering in Gaza this week comes news that Britain’s quisling ex-prime minister, Tony Blair, is to receive the highest civilian award offered by the United States – the Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[1] It will be presented by George W Bush as he leaves office, presumably in recognition of Blair’s services to the US, by selling his country down the river, lying to Parliament, and authorizing the slaughter of hundreds of British soldiers in Iraq, needlessly (and against the wishes of the British people).

Blair has been incredibly quiet over the Israeli aggression in Gaza recently, partly because, despite being the ‘Quartet’s’ man in the Middle East, he was on holiday for the first week of the conflict and seemed unwilling to cut it short for such a minor infringement as the slaughtering of a few hundred Palestinians. Besides he’s making way too much money elsewhere, either lecturing Yale freshmen on the way to combine war, politics and Christianity (and still stay in with Jesus), or, delivering the odd $100,000 half hour, after-dinner, speech to grotesquely wealthy American businessmen.

Well, it beats pretending to be the friend of the British working classes while methodically robbing them blind, doesn’t it, Tony?

2009 has begun with the usual festival of political avarice, power-grabbing, and slaughter of innocents we’ve come to expect from the scum holding the reigns. It’s all delivered with a hearty measure of self-righteousness and the feigned intellectual pomposity that makes our world politicians so endearing -at least to those stupid enough to vote for them.

All hope rests with Barack Obama, and whether he’ll really be different from all the rest. It’s unlikely. So far, all that’s escaped has been hot air, so we must wait to see if any of it coalesces into solid, common-sense, policy making. At this stage, even a mild rebuke for Israeli tactics in Gaza would be welcome, but the chances remain slim, even after Inauguration Day.

On the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in general, and Gaza in particular, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. “Hamas fires rockets; Israel invades Gaza to stop rockets,” is the limit of knowledge of every US politician I’ve heard speak on the subject – and there have been many.

Contrary to Israeli and US political propaganda, there are lots of Israelis who refuse to condone the ongoing actions of their government. Unlike most Americans, they are far better educated on the ‘big picture’.

One such Israeli is Avi Shlaim. He’s Professor of International Relations at probably the most prestigious educational establishment in the world, Oxford University in England. He served in the Israeli Defence Force and believes wholeheartedly in Israel’s right to exist.

Surely, with all the ill thought-out hot air being bandied about on the subject right now, mostly by those with their own agendas, or by uneducated louts who’d not know their David Ben Gurions from their Mossads, the opinion of Professor Shlaim should be respected?

Decide for yourself:

^{“How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe” Avi Shlaim, The Guardian, January 7th 2009}

^{[1] “Blair to get US Medal of Freedom” BBC, January 5th 2009}

Filed under: US/UK/Israeli politics